The summoning

by Kelley Armstrong

Paper Book, 2008

Status

Available

Call number

813.6

Series

Darkest Powers (1)

Genres

Publication

[Scarborough, Ont.] : Doubleday Canada, c2008.

Description

After fifteen-year-old Chloe starts seeing ghosts and is sent to Lyle House, a mysterious group home for mentally disturbed teenagers, she soon discovers that neither Lyle House nor its inhabitants are exactly what they seem, and that she and her new friends are in danger.

Media reviews

Openbooksociety.com

The Summoning is Kelley Armstrong's (author of The Otherworld Series) debut young adult series book. The teenagers in this book, live in the same universe as the characters in The Otherworld Series, but we get a younger perspective of the already familiar world. I absolutely love Armstrong's

books and this one's no different. Armstrong recaptured her writing style, but for a much younger audience. For those who have read the other novels in The Otherworld Series, you can step right back into this world where you know supernatural creatures exist and you can just go along for the ride as Chloe discovers that the world around her is not as "normal" as she thinks. Chloe is a great character to read. I think she identifies with a majority of teenagers in the fact that she doesn't feel like she fits with the "in crowd". She is strong and independent and really spreads her wings when she finds out that it's okay not to be "normal". This "coming of age" novel is very fast paced and fun for all ages. It was really great to see how these teens dealt with their powers at a critical point in their mental and physical developments... and I thought puberty was hard! I highly recommend this book for all Kelley Armstrong's fans and also for those who want to begin a journey into the world of the supernatural.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member theepicrat

The cover for The Summoning is really beautiful - to the point that I had to mention it first because all the covers for this series are rather remarkable. I am not sure how it directly relates to the story, but at the moment I feel that it is somewhat misleading. Is it just me, or does anyone else

think "medieval" when glancing at the cover? Would you have thought "ghosts" and "group home" would be involved? No, not unless you already knew what The Summoning was about.

I was not too impressed with The Summoning. It had great potential, but I thought it fell short on meeting my expectations. The opening prologue was pretty fantastic - very creepy! I dare not dawdle in the basement for too long... However, the rest of the story did not build upon that creepy introduction. Not to sound completely morose, but there was not enough dead people for a book about a girl who sees dead people. I think Kelley Armstrong was trying to set the stage for the upcoming books, and I really hope that the sequel really ups the ante and delivers some bone-chilling shivers.

On the plus side, I enjoyed the cast of characters - they all stood out with their different personalities, and there was never a dull moment between Chloe and her housemates. I particularly enjoyed her interactions with Derek who is not exactly Mr. Social Butterfly. As they started to trust each other more and discover the extent of Chloe's powers, I thought the scrapes that they kept stumbling into really hilarious.

My advice is to keep the sequel on hand if you decide to read The Summoning. The ending of the first book really hangs on a cliff, and I wish that I had the sequel to find out what happens and see if the series is worth following.

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24 more

LibraryThing member kdangleis

The Summoning, by Kelley Armstrong, is the first book in her supernatural Darkest Powers trilogy. Chloe, 15, is able to see ghosts. This not being normal, she finds herself in a group home and is diagnosed with schizophrenia. While in the home she uncovers a mystery of disappearing teenagers,

corpses, werewolves, and other evils. The book is filled with suspense, moves at a good pace and will satisfy any supernatural booklover! The story is told by Chloe and contains a lot of dialogue so it is a pretty quick read for high school age students who enjoy this type of fiction. The other two titles in the series are The Awakening and The Recokoning. This series is age appropriate for high school readers.

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LibraryThing member thediaryofabookworm

I've rarely been as creeped out as I was after reading the first chapter of Kelley Armstrong's first book in the Darkest Powers series. I read it in bed before going to sleep and it even gave me nightmares.
But what an appetite wetter! I plowed through The Summoning in a mere 3 days even including

my time off fussing over and nursing a sick kitty.

Chole has recently turned 15, is your average arts student and doesn't anticipate any earth shattering changes in her life any time soon. But minutes after starting her first menstrual period she is suddenly being chased down by mangled people, and strapped to a gurney bound for a mental hospital. Talk about having a bad day in High School.
After a diagnosis of Schizophrenia, Chole finds herself in a small group home called Lyle House with 5 other teenagers. While working through her issues, she starts to uncover some disturbing truths about herself which will lead to a whole world of trouble if she accepts them. Necromancer is not the career of choice for most teenagers after all.

A little bit of Heroes (while it was still good), a little bit of the best of X-Men, and a little bit of classic creepy Stephen King, The Summoning was one of the most unusual YA books I've read this year. It was fabulously good, edge of your seat kind of stuff containing some truly horrifying scenes, but the best part? No required love story. Seriously. Can you believe it? I almost can't and I've just finished it. There is the tiniest hint of something possible, maybe, but no focused love story. Honestly what publisher had that epiphany? Girls will read books without love stories? God Bless them!

With a twist ending that will have you racing to the store to pick up book two, make sure you put the Darkest Powers series up at the top of your summer reading list.

The Summoning, by Kelley Armstrong
Published by Harper Collins, March 2009

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LibraryThing member PhoebeReading

Oh, how I wanted to adore Kelley Armstrong's The Summoning.And, to be fair, there's a lot to like here between just the cover and the first handful of chapters. Armstrong promises us the dark and alluring story of Chloe Saunders, a fifteen-year-old girl who, in one day, both gets her first period

and starts seeing ghosts. I was initially won over by what seemed like the depth of Chloe's character--not only does she suffer from the very real adolescent affliction of menstruation, but she also seems believably complex; she has interests (movies), flaws (she's a stutterer), and isn't perfect looking (though the cover accurately reflects her appearance, something that's unfortunately rare in YA book covers, she's short and underdeveloped for her age).But as the story progressed, and Chloe was shipped off to the Lyle House, a residential home for mentally-ill teenagers, my enthusiasm for the story waned. Initially, I thought this had something to do with Chloe's voice. Armstrong's sentences are brief and sometimes abrupt--she relies on sentence fragments just a little too much for my liking. She also has an unfortunate tendency to engage in the dreaded infodump. There isn't a single conversation or passage in here that discusses the characters' underlying supernatural powers in a way that I'd call artful.(And a brief aside: I'd die happy if I never read another YA novel where a character researches his or her supernatural predicament via wikipedia. Yes, I realize that this is how modern teenagers get information. But encyclopedia passages repeated verbatim is just never interesting, whether the source is The World Book or google, and protracted descriptions of the minutia of their search--typing in URLs and the like--are just really tiresome. I always get the feeling that the author is trying to say "Hey, I know the technology of kids these days!" but I'm never quite convinced. That Armstrong botched a description of Nintendo's PictoChat didn't help much either--I've never known anyone who would draw inscrutable hieroglyphs on there when they could just type something out--or even write it. Anyway . . .)As I read further and further into The Summoning, I found myself struggling in a way that went beyond just finicky problems with voice. I'd describe this in two words: pacing problems.The bulk of the novel's problems take a very, very long time to unravel. This would be fine if the tensions built in a gradual and meaningful way. But unfortunately, the chapters here are both very brief and very inconsistent. Characters would be talking to ghosts in one chapter and flirting over breakfast the next. Chloe Saunders, for all of her apparent genre savvy, remains painfully clueless about the very transparent conspiracy that underlies the Lyle House--most of which I'd guessed about a quarter of the way in. Worse, I never really got a sense of the characters during the novel's first two thirds, either. It wasn't until about halfway through that I could even reliably tell you which character was which, and that would be in very broad strokes: Victoria's the bitch, Derek smells, Simon's a nerd, and Rachelle is . . . uh, black? The lack of concrete characterization and consistent tensions made it very difficult for me to care through most of the book.Luckily, the novel takes a sudden turn for the better in the last hundred pages or so. Finally, Chloe catches on with regards to the sinister nature of the Lyle House and, along with several other students, she sets out to finally do something about it. By necessity, the personalities of the characters were suddenly much better defined and more interesting. But then the novel ends abruptly, with absolutely none of the plot threads resolved. I'm all for cliffhangers; I love long series with rich continuity. But I also like to have a small feeling of resolution by a novel's end. By the last page of The Summoning I had the distinct feeling that the story was just beginning. Which would have been great! Except I just wish I hadn't had to read through four hundred pages of prose to get there.

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LibraryThing member sensitivemuse

This book was great. I felt myself turning page after page and wanting to read more. Although the beginning wasn't what I quite expected, it wasn't such a bad thing and the ending was awesome and I am definitely going to add the sequel to my wishlist. The plot was great from beginning to end. It

was well written, clear and had enough teasers, and although naturally all questions weren't answered some which bugged me the most were so I wasn't entirely left hanging. This book had a great way of gradually introducing you to the paranormal aspect of the plot, sort of as if you're Chloe herself and just learning about it with her. I like the way it's done as it makes it more realistic. The plot is darker than I expected and more serious for a YA book. The paranormal parts, especially when Chloe starts practicing her gift, has a skin crawling creepy effect and it's definitely well written to give you the goose bumps. The ghosts she sees, are also well done and their descriptions are chilling and menacing.

I'm not that attached to Chloe even though she's the main character. I found as I read later into the book I suddenly became much more frustrated and I wanted to hit her upside the head for her stupidity at times. I'm surprised Derek has managed to keep his temper in check with Chloe bumbling about sometimes. Although Derek may seem abrasive, I actually like him the most in the book so far. He's surprisingly mature despite his surly manner and horrible attitude. He seems to be the strongest character, I think in the book. Tori was horrible and I was hoping Chloe would clock her across the face. Perhaps sometime I'll be satisfied to see Tori in a horrible demise. She's just an awful person and I hope I never meet anyone like that ever. Chloe does seem to develop through the novel although I don't think she really matures yet. I think perhaps because she doesn't really have all the information and facts concerning her and her "condition/gift". So, she still has room for development which I am looking forward to seeing in the next book.

When I said the beginning wasn't what I expected, I meant that I expected a lot of paranormal activity to happen. It didn't. It was gradual, and even then there is bits and parts of it, but not as much as I thought. There's a lot of "real life" in the book and it adds realism to the plot and it's a refreshing surprise to read something like this. So it's not really a criticism, it was just interesting to read and something new to see, I think.

Overall, a wonderful creepy page turner, mix in realistic life scenes and a huge cliffhanger ending, you'll want more from this series. A lot more.

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LibraryThing member ethel55

A jam-packed beginning to Armstrong's new YA series. Chole thinks she has some pretty scary looking imaginary friends as a child. They recede for a bit, but suddenly, at school one day, she see a janitor no one else does. Her father and aunt decide she needs a two week "evaluation" at Lyle House.

There, Chloe meets up with some other unusual teens, and they don't think she's crazy when she conjures up some more "imaginary" friends. The book is fast-paced and very plot driven. The characters were just starting to gel really well for me by the end...can't wait to learn more in the next installment. I think Armstrong has made the leap to YA quite nicely.

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LibraryThing member maribs

Chloe Saunders is like any other 15 year old, focused on friends, school and boys. However, this all changes when she wakes up one morning and discovers she can see ghosts and they want to talk to her.

Chloe is sent to a home for troubled teens after her school finds her screaming that she is

seeing dead people and is subsequently diagnosed with schizophrenia. At the home she meets other teens with troubles of their own. Having read many of her other books, it was fun to figure out who/what these other kids are.

Kelley Armstrong, the author of The Women of the Underworld Series (which is one of my favorites), has written her first YA novel about a girl discovering she is a necromancer and also about other's supernatural abilities. She has given us another very strong female protagonist and one that teens can identify with, to a point.

This book is a mix of The Sixth Sense and X-Men. If you liked those movies you will like this book. Entertaining, frightening. Don't read it at night alone if you scare easily.

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LibraryThing member Asata

Excellent characterization and plotting--great suspense and atmosphere. It's rare for me to be surprised by plot twists, but Armstrong managed it. Great for adults, too, who like urban fantasy.

LibraryThing member kayceel

Love Kelley Armstrong - her Women of the Otherworld series is one of my favorites, and this one seems to be set in the same world, only with teens. Chloe Saunders is fifteen, and the same day she finally gets her period, she sees a ghost and has a bit of a meltdown. Her school takes her episode as

an indication of encroaching mental illness and insist she spend time in a group home for metal illness for a short while for observation. At Lyle House, Chloe meets her house mates, and it soon becomes apparent that their "mental illnesses" might also be supernatural in nature. And their teachers might be doing more than simple caring for the students...
Fantastically engrossing, and very quick read. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is the books ends on a killer of a cliff hanger. And now I have to *wait* for the next one and I hate waiting!!!

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LibraryThing member issydabrat

I absolutely loved this book! It was a quick read and when it ended I was pouting for wanting more. It ties in well the the Women of the Other World series that she has allowing these teen readers to be able to start in on that series when they are ready to be reading adult novels. I like the

premise of some of the people who are looked at as having mental problems as a possible cover for something else. I can't wait until the next in the series comes out!

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LibraryThing member BookWhisperer

Amazing Book!!!!! The combination of magical talents all wrapped up in one awesome story. I am completely flustered with the ending of this book, and can not wait for the next book. Kelley Armstrong has outdone herself with this new series. I find it to be better the the Women of the Otherworld

Series that I have been following for the past year.

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LibraryThing member TheLibraryhag

Chloe is your average teen until a ghostly incident lands her in a group home for mentally disturbed kids. But it does not take long for Chloe to figure out that she is not the only one there with strange "powers". Now the question is, is it a coincidence or is something sinister going on?

OMG, I

loved this book. It moves fast and the characters are really compelling. I absolutely can not wait for the next one.

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LibraryThing member MonicaLynn

Kelley sure is getting the teens ready to read her other series when they become older. This was a good read and very enjoyable. The open ending however can be very frustrating, when you are sitting there so intrigued and wanting more. I cannot wait for the 2nd book "The Awakening" to come out.

Ever since my friend introduced me to the "Women of the Otherworld series" I have been addicted to her books and I highly recommend sharing or buying this book.

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LibraryThing member stephxsu

On the day that fifteen-year-old Chloe Saunders finally gets her period, she sees the ghost, her first since her childhood. It freaks her out so much that she is sent to the hospital and then referred to Lyle House, a private home for mentally ill adolescents--otherwise known as a place to lock the

crazy kids up in.

At Lyle House, Chloe takes medication for her diagnosis--schizophrenia--and attends to a strict schedule of chores and schoolwork. But she continues to encounter strange occurrences, such as the ghost who's attempting to contact her. It just might be that there's more to herself than she knows... and more to Lyle House and her housemates than others are letting onto. Chloe and her newfound friends may be in much more danger than they expect.

After hearing so much hype about Armstrong's upcoming sequel, The Awakening, I'm very glad I picked The Summoning up. It felt to me almost like Harry Potter with a female protagonist and fewer subplots. The strength of this series lies in its idea: these teenagers with supernatural powers are funneled into this peculiar house for possibly sinister purposes! The characters' interactions with one another are spiritful, the dialogue vibrant; the characters themselves, though, do not stand out to me in the heavily populated world of YA paranormal fiction.

The exception may be Chloe, who is wonderful, constantly changing and growing and doubting herself--all the things that a normal teenage girl should do, all without being petty or annoyingly shallow. I also found Derek interesting, and would like to see much more of him in the future. Perhaps there will be a romance between him and Chloe...?

But that's a minor complaint, for the story more than makes up for the less-than-outstanding characters. The Summoning ends on a suspenseful, slightly disappointing note as readers wait for the sequel impatiently to find out what happens to Chloe and her friends.

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LibraryThing member cassiopia_cat

A young girl in one of my classes loaned this book to me after she finished it. She was angry and disappointed with the ending and frankly I agreed with her. The story flowed quite nicely right up to the ending and then it seemed to abruptly stop. It is clear that the book has been put together to

just be a "chapter" in a series as opposed to a complete story on its own. This is disappointing. A book should tell a complete story from beginning to end. There are many book series that are written with each book having a distinct plotline with an individual climax and then the characters move on to the next book...but this did not happen here.
The characters were likeable though and the plot flowed along seamlessly and even created a shiver or two...but the abrupt ending spoiled it.
I gave this book a 2.5 out of 5.

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LibraryThing member AlexDraven

YA in Kelley Armstrong's awesome supernatural world. Greatly enjoyable, but it doesn't end so much as just stop - I might wait for the rest of the series to come out and then read them all as one really satisfying long story.

LibraryThing member teharhynn

I love to see that now even young adults can enjoy Kelley Armstrong. The only thing that I didn't like about this book was that it all seemed like it was lead-up for the next book. I know that happens sometimes with trilogies, but it's disappointing to see. Overall though, I think it's a great

idea, and it's going to make a great set overall.

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LibraryThing member nilchance

If you have a teenaged daughter, put Twilight away and give her this instead.

LibraryThing member dasuzuki

I would say this is a good book for teens but it did not grab me the way other YA books have. It’s funny reading the description, all I could think was “I see dead people” from The Sixth Sense. The story does hook you wondering what do all these teens really have in common and who should

Chloe trust. In fact it ends with quite the surprise. I am looking forward to the next book but it is not a “I’m dying for it to come out” series.

Stop here if you don’t want any spoilers.

I was surprised to see that Chloe’s aunt was in on the whole thing. I wonder if this group is really going to be evil. It seems like it but Aunt Lauren really seems to care about Chloe so we will have to see what happens. I do hope Liz is still alive although if she is I don’t see how Chloe can summon her at will.

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LibraryThing member KitCatJMS

While I have had problems in the past getting into this author's flow of writing, The Summoning hooked me from the very beginning and held my interest until the very end. In fact, I can't wait to read the next installment in this series!

LibraryThing member DF1A_ChristieR

Chloe Saunders sees dead people. Yes, like in the films. The problem is, in real life saying you see ghosts gets you a one-way ticket to the psych ward. And at 15, all Chloe wants to do is fit in at school and maybe get a boy to notice her. But when a particularly violent ghost haunts her, she gets

noticed for all the wrong reasons. Her seemingly crazed behaviour earns her a trip to Lyle House, a centre for 'disturbed teens'. At first Chloe is determined to keep her head down. But then her room mate disappears after confessing she has a poltergeist, and some of the other patients also seem to be manifesting paranormal behaviour. Could that be a coincidence? Or is Lyle House not quite what it seems...?
I hadn't started to really like the book until it ended on a very super scene.

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LibraryThing member kbpup903

I absolutely loved this book! I couldn't put it down. I read it in one day, almost in one sitting but sadly I had to go to school.
I think my favorite thing about this book is how Chloe is just like a normal teenager except that she can see and talk to dead people. Her mom died when she was young

and her dad is always away on business so she is normally alone, except for a few friends and her aunt Lauren who tries to fill in for Chloe's mom. She usually keeps to herself so when things start to get weird she can't really tell anyone.
So, at the beginning Chloe is in a school for the arts and she is just like all the other people in her school, except a little bit of a late bloomer. On the same day that she gets her first period she also sees her first dead person or at least the first person that she knows is dead. After being chased through the school by a dead janitor, Chloe is sedated and sent to the hospital and told that she must spend at least two weeks in Lyle House, a group home for unstable teens.
Once in Lyle House, Chloe meets some interesting people such as Liz, Rae, Simon, and Derek. Derek is a little scary at first, always sneaking up on Chloe and accidentally throwing her across a room. Once she gets to know him, though, she realizes that he is just like her and can't control his powers. At first, Simon seems like he is just in the group home to stay with his brother, Derek, but once she starts talking to him she realizes that he is a supernatural also but his powers aren't as obvious as Chloe's and Derek's. Liz also seems to have some powers but she never realizes that she is controlling them. She is transferred shortly after Chloe arrives because instead of getting better she seemed to be getting worse. Rae also may have powers but it was really hard to tell. She was placed in the group home shortly after giving her mom first degree burns when she never had a lighter or anything else that could have caused them.
There are others in the group home, such as Tori and Peter, but Peter gets sent home after Chloe arrives and Tori is the group's resident witch and not in the supernatural way. Tori believes that because her mom is on the board of Lyle House she can do and get whatever she wants but Chloe interferes with her plans as soon as she arrives. Tori manages to get Chloe in many terrible situations, some potentially deadly, but it's only because she doesn't want her mom to be disappointed in her. Tori doesn't play a really big role in the story, all she really does is get everyone in trouble.
Chloe, Derek, Simon, and Rae discover Lyle Houses' secrets and realize that, maybe they aren't there because they are crazy but because of their powers. They realize that they need to escape and that they need to do it soon. Once out, though, things don't go exactly as planned. They are hunted down by the nurses and owners of Lyle House and chased through warehouses by guys with tranquilizer guns. Once the girls escape and find a safe place they think things are going to get better but none of them realized that someone close to them betrayed their trust.
Of course, I'm not gonna say who. That would give everything away. I truly loved this book and if you really want to know how it ends you will just have to find a copy to read. This book is first in a new series by Kelley Armstrong. The next book, The Awakening, will be out on April 28.

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LibraryThing member imperfectionist

Chloe Saunders could hardly believe it when she starts seeing ghosts. How could it be possible? Pushing the thought from her mind, she went on with her life – at least until a brief scuffle with a terrifying ghost lands her in Lyle's house, an asylum for special teens. There, she meets kids that

seem normal at firsthand but are more extraordinary than she could ever have imagined. Chloe soon realizes that to be able to leave, she must try to be normal as possible despite the abnormal things that soon starts taking place…

Despite the supernatural element of the story, Chloe's skepticism towards the fact that she could see ghosts makes it realistic. At one point in the story, she even believed she was schizophrenic.

Another defining quality of Chloe is that she narrates the story in a movie director sort of perspective. What I mean by this is that she compares her life to film. It made her views so much more interesting. After all, she was a theater arts student before she was admitted into the asylum.

Chloe is an amazing protagonist. She never stops questioning herself and others; she's determined to find the truth. However, she has insecurities that inhibit her, and that makes her all the more enchanting.

The Summoning is dead-on in terms of character development and interactions, suspense, and plot. The teens at Lyle House are all well sketched-out, and that helped advance the plot as well. The dialogue, which I believed to be the novel's greatest strength, is so real you can easily believe that the characters are actual teenagers. Using a moderate pace helped with character growth; however, it gains much energy and suspense as mysterious events and connections start unraveling. This novel never stops surprising you.

There's absolutely no negative thing I can comment on about this book. I wouldn't be surprised to see The Summoning on a bestsellers list. I absolutely adore this book, and I'm looking forward to the next book of the series.

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LibraryThing member PrincessAshley

Young Adult Novel

“The Summoning” is the first book in a new series from Kelley Armstrong who writes for both adults and young adults.

In “The Summoning” we are introduced to Chloe Saunders, who is a normal girl – the only problem is that Chloe sees ghosts. After being sent the Lyle House

– a place where ‘disturbed teens’ are sent – Chloe discovers that she is not crazy, she really is seeing dead people. She also discovers that she is not the only inhabitant of Lyle House who has unusual characteristics – her roommate has a poltergeist and her best friend can make fire. After learning of strange happenings at Lyle House from the ghosts that inhabit
the basement, Chloe and her new friends try to escape from their vigilant keepers.

“The Summoning” is not a great book, but it is not the worst piece of young adult fiction I have ever picked up. The story line is choppy and moves quickly through the story. It is easy to feel like you are being rushed when you’re reading this book. There are a few unique surprises in this book – use of necromancers and wizards that differs from the usually usage and a hint of brutality from characters you expect to be sweet and soft. Other than these minor details the book is your average teen novel – heavy on the ‘average’ girl who is suddenly dropped into an unusual world. I would recommend this book to teens as pleasure reading – I think however that most teens would prefer something written for a higher age range than this book is.

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LibraryThing member bottleninja

great book!read this then read "Bitten" because it was same author...liked bitten but not the rest of the series....

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